How do you feel about “To Do” lists?  Some of us might turn and run at the idea of these, while others of us are enamored with them.  Where do they fit into our rhythms, and when do they start to interfere with them?  All of us will find ourselves challenged at different points by the suggestions in this book.  See if you can figure out what God is showing you by your reactions to the practices suggested.

If you were to walk around your house and look for creative outlets that have always brought you pleasure, would you see accumulations of dust on them?  Perhaps it’s your sewing machine or your paintbrushes that have been buried deep in storage for years that you stumble over that remind you of what used to be a part of your habits and have gone by the wayside.  Open your heart to what God might be whispering in your ear about committing time to creating again!

If you were to think of your life using the analogy of a garden, what would you see as your harvest?  As your weeds?  Come amble through the imagination of seeing your life from a different perspective for a few minutes.

How do we spend the currency of our lives - the moments, the hours, the years?  Where do we find our purpose in life?  Take a deep breath or two and come reflect on where your answers lie to these essential questions.

Do hugs energize you—or make you want to step back? Explore how God uses even simple gestures like hugs to bring connection, lower stress, and remind us that sharing love sometimes means opening our arms.

What voices are you giving the loudest microphone in your life—your pain, your fears, or the encouragement of others? We weren’t meant to face struggles in isolation. Come explore God’s invitation to share both grief and joy in community, and discover the freedom that comes from letting others carry your burdens alongside you.

Doesn’t it sound idyllic to welcome people into your home?  Or does that very idea push you into a panic attack?  Come explore God’s invitation to live in community and explore your own victories or struggles in this area!

Friendship can be hard for people.  Finding ways to connect with others may present challenges and reopen previous emotional wounds.  Trust God to walk with you as you search for the people He wants to embrace you as friend.  

Introspections of an introvert, reflections from a reticent person who firmly believes that “silence is golden”: perhaps you can relate to these ponderings, or perhaps you can read and reflect while you open your mind to the beauty of quiet as you read this post.

 What “special people” have you encountered in your life?  Perhaps you recognize that euphemism as describing people with mental or physical handicaps.  Celebrate the joy of simple and pure relationships that can increase your appreciation of God’s love for all of us here on earth!

All of us have to eat, no matter how busy we get.  What does your family do to make sure that meals happen each day?  What role do you play in that production?  If you play a lead role in making sure the people in your house get nutrition into their bodies, you will appreciate this entry.

 Is the concept of play something you only think of associated with your past?  Let’s see if we can change that!  Today’s post not only gives you permission to play, but it prescribes it as a positive benefit you need to welcome into your life!

Life feels non-stop busy.  How can we set aside times to have a Sabbath (“to rest or to cease” from the original Hebrew)?  If we stop, aren’t we going to fall behind?  Instead, what blessings can we find in penciling into our planner some scheduled time to do what Simon and Garfunkel recommend: “Slow down, you move too fast/You got to make the morning last” and even more importantly, God says. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” is literally one of the ten Commandments.  If you struggle with this, you are not alone.

Psalm 90:14 requests, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”  There’s so much positivity in that verse - satisfaction, singing, joy, being glad… Perhaps you are like me where that particular part of the day does not always inspire optimism and smiles, perhaps it’s more associated with a croaking voice and eyes struggling to stay open.  No matter which way God created you, He calls us to incorporate Jesus into our daily routines.

When your head hits the pillow at night, do you find a place of peace and escape and rejuvenation, or do you have a different story?  All of us need rest, but some of us are better at making that a part of our rhythm than others!

As much as we’d prefer to avoid these words in evaluating our souls, sometimes in our life there come times when we need to confess, release, and change some things.  When we look at ourselves and what matters most to us, how do we see these words playing out in our decisions?

We live in a busy and noisy world, full of attention grabbers and distractions.  Do we find ways to turn them all off and just breathe in the silence that remains in that space?  For some of us, this is easier than others.  Where do you fall on that spectrum?  

Where do we find our eyes focused in life? When we are genuine and honest with ourselves, we realize that where our eyes turn, our heart almost always follows. And where our heart is, that is where our treasure is. Do we like the answers that we find when we evaluate the treasures in our lives?

It’s time to take inventory; we need to figure out what’s most important to us.  What things tug at and monopolize our time and energy?  As we pull out our values and proverbially spread them on the table in front of us, we need to look at them through these eyes: What’s right?  What’s wrong?  What’s confused?  What’s missing?  

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28-30) 

This is the first of many posts that will be centered around building rhythms that help you create and/or restore connection to our Savior. We begin our series focused on rest because who couldn’t use some of that right now?